If we win Friday's game and Texas lose then we have booked our place in the WC game right?because Texas can then only tie us in the second WC spot but we own the tiebreaker against them and so would not have to play a winner take all game.

"There is but one thing of real value: to cultivate truth and justice and to live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust men"

British_Pharaoh wrote:If we win Friday's game and Texas lose then we have booked our place in the WC game right?because Texas can then only tie us in the second WC spot but we own the tiebreaker against them and so would not have to play a winner take all game.

Tiebreakers in MLB only account for home field advantage.

If we tie with Tex in the 2nd wild card spot, we'd have to play a one game play off against the Rangers with the winner then playing the Rays in the Wild Card playoff.

The Tribe's tiebreaker advantage just means the playoff with Tex would be played in Cleveland.

British_Pharaoh wrote:If we win Friday's game and Texas lose then we have booked our place in the WC game right?because Texas can then only tie us in the second WC spot but we own the tiebreaker against them and so would not have to play a winner take all game.

Tiebreakers in MLB only account for home field advantage.

If we tie with Tex in the 2nd wild card spot, we'd have to play a one game play off against the Rangers with the winner then playing the Rays in the Wild Card playoff.

The Tribe's tiebreaker advantage just means the playoff with Tex would be played in Cleveland.

Thank you

"There is but one thing of real value: to cultivate truth and justice and to live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust men"

dazindiansfanuk wrote:That's a real quick hook from Tito.... this is already playoff baseball!

I liked the tone.

Anyone else think Perez was sent out there to put the nail in his own coffin? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice and my dog will order weed to your house.

The Plain Dealer actually had a compelling article about this.

Tito DID put Perez in to help him get his confidence back, which backfired. The most stunning revelation in the piece was Francona stating Perez came to him after the game to tell him "I've lost my location."

When asked what next, Francona was bluntly honest. "We have to figure that out."

I don't think you can keep Perez on the roster. You don't try and find your location in the playoffs.

We went from sort of having a closer to not having one at all. Shaw is not a closer. Smith is not a closer. Everybody's focused on Chris Perez, but Cody Allen's location is really on the fritz as well. His arm's going to fall off. His previous high in appearances is 58. He's at 76 already.

Masterson is not and will never be a closer. Guy can't work back-to-back days, two out of three, three out of four, or even three out of five. As I already said in a thread yesterday, he's got an erratic release point and control issues from time to time. Over six innings, you can work that out. When you've got one inning, you can't. You have to be on point when you enter the game, especially if you're not used to working in that scenario.

The big problem is this: Shaw was your bridge to Allen because our starters are averaging 5.1 innings per start this month. You move everybody back an inning and your bridge is who? Albers? Try to have CC Lee throwing important innings? Hagadone? Hill? Carrasco?

I'm not comfortable with Allen in the 8th and Smith closing. Not with where Allen currently is. We may not have a choice, but this is more than just a problem with Perez. You lose so much depth to your bullpen when you have to change everybody's role.

Way I see it, Tito has one option: Play matchups late in the game - use Shaw against RHB, Rzepczynski against LHB in the 8th. Use matchups in the 6th/7th with a combination of Hill, Albers, Hagadone, Allen. Try Smith in the 9th and hope for the best.

Pestano's ineffectiveness has really crippled the bullpen. Those guys are totally taxed. It's magnified now because if he was any kind of good, he'd be an option in that 6th/7th role.

They could really use 7+ innings from Kluber tonight.

A God Damn dead man would understand that if a minor league bus in any city took a real sharp right turn, a Zack McCalister would likely fall out. - Lead Pipe